From Franz Josef and the glacier country the journey continued north. As mentioned earlier this is quite remote areas and you don't see too many villages or spectacular nature attractions except for that the the see views in some spots offers quite a nice scenery.
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| Western coastline |
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| Typical NZ roadside |
One thing that is spectacular though all over New Zealand is all the ferns that grow along the road sides. Actually New Zealand's official country symbol is a silver fern and in 2015 there was a referendum to also change the NZ flag to a new one incorporating the silver fern instead of the british flag. Unfortunately, my opinion, the proposal lost
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| Could have been the new NZ flag |
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| Pancake rocks |
Our next stop was in Panukaiki or pancake rocks as they are called in daily speak. Some strange rock formations that was well worth a visit.
In Panukaiki we stayed in a rainforest resort that was something different to any other accommodation we've ever used. It was literally small individually designed cabins scattered in an area of lush forest. It felt like living in a tree house with leaves just a meter outside the windows. Quite spectacular and really cool. The backside however was that it was very damp and smelled mould. Definitely worth a one night stay though.
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| Found it! |
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| Trying to locate our cabin in the forest |
After a cafe pancake (of course!) breakfast we continued to Nelson which turned out to be a quite big city in the north east region. Not too much to see or do around but we stayed two nights and chilled.
On the way we stopped to have a look at the wild seal colony at Tauranga Bay.
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| Cute friend from Tauranga Bay |
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| Nelson |
On the way out from Nelson we stopped at a skywire atraction. It was a steel wire stretched between two mountains, 1600m long and as most 150m above ground. You travel in a 4-chair carriage and start freewheeling at about 85 km/h and then a motor takes you the last bit to the end. After that you're going backwards exactly the same way and speed.
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| Getting ready for the ride. Jackets and funny caps were borrowed |
What it felt like? Imagine going very fast in a ski lift. Quite cool.(And also cold in the speed wind)
We were thinking Picton from where the ferry to north island goes was next door to Nelson bur it actually takes 2 hours to drive there. We chose the scenic way and that was worth the little extra effort with windy roads as you get beautiful views of Marlborough sounds. This area is also known as the best wine district of NZ producing really nice white whines, we fell in love with the Shingle Peak chardonnay. However Sauvignon Balnc is their signature grape.
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| Leaving south island |
The ferry to Wellington takes 3,5 hours and this day was really windy so the journey was quite unpleasant with hard winds from the side. It felt like the boat was leaning 10 degrees the entire way.
eventually we ended upo in what has to be one of the worlds best protected natural harbours, Wellington. No doubt why they decided to place the city there. Time now for adventures on the north island.
Cheers
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